This is truly awful. A county council banned "lawful" measures in favour of a foreign system imposed from outwith the country involved!!!

Will BWMA stand up for the rights of the poor traders forced to use these hated Imperial Measures forced upon us by the foreign power involved and work toward compensation for the traumautised descendents of their families.....



COUNTY OF A.....
-------------------
Weights & Measures Acts
-------------------
SALE OF POTATOES
-------------------
CAUTION
-------------------
The attention of the County Council having been directed to a custom in
force in various Districts of the County of selling potatoes by what is
known as the "Barrel Measure" which is not of the denomination of some
Board of Trade standard and is consequently illegal, NOTICE IS HEREBY
GIVEN that on and after the 1st day of February, 1905-

Any person who sells potatoes by any denomination of weight or measure
other than one of the Imperial Weights or Measures, or some multiple or
part thereof, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding FORTY SHILLINGS
for every such sale; and

Every person who uses or has in his possession for use for trade a
weight or measure which is not of the denomination of some Board of Trade
standard, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding FIVE POUNDS, or in the
case of a second offence TEN POUNDS, and the weight or measure shall be
liable to be forfeited.


By Order,

J... S........,

County Clerk
L..........., 14th October, 1904





I can produce the original document.




Comments welcome......

00 years ago today.....
October 14 2004 at 2:12 AM Beranger
Beranger:
This is truly awful. A county council banned "lawful" measures in favour of a foreign system imposed from outwith the country involved!!!

Will BWMA stand up for the rights of the poor traders forced to use these hated Imperial Measures forced upon us by the foreign power involved and work toward compensation for the traumautised descendents of their families.....

COUNTY OF A.....
-------------------
Weights & Measures Acts
-------------------
SALE OF POTATOES
-------------------
CAUTION
-------------------
The attention of the County Council having been directed to a custom in
force in various Districts of the County of selling potatoes by what is
known as the "Barrel Measure" which is not of the denomination of some
Board of Trade standard and is consequently illegal, NOTICE IS HEREBY
GIVEN that on and after the 1st day of February, 1905-

Any person who sells potatoes by any denomination of weight or measure
other than one of the Imperial Weights or Measures, or some multiple or
part thereof, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding FORTY SHILLINGS
for every such sale; and

Every person who uses or has in his possession for use for trade a
weight or measure which is not of the denomination of some Board of Trade
standard, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding FIVE POUNDS, or in the
case of a second offence TEN POUNDS, and the weight or measure shall be
liable to be forfeited.


By Order,

J... S........,

County Clerk
L..........., 14th October, 1904

metre:
This is interesting, but old news for the metric side. Imperialists on the other hand
will squirm and close their eyes to make it disappear. An art they have truly perfected.

Think about the historical circumstances under which the above was issued. Compare to the circumstances today. Then you will understand.

Enforcement of one set of measurements is nothing new and something that every civilised country has done for centuries. Many imperial supporters seem to forget that the same was (and still is for road signs) true for imperial measurements.

The issue is not WHETHER one system should be enforced, it is WHICH system is to be enforced.

The argument of freedom of choice is basically a cop-out.

No its not.


Ner!

I don't really understand threads like this. It is almost as if that by proving Imperial has been compulsory before there is a discrediting of the side that argues for "Why should I be banned from using Imperial". Total rubbish.

Re: 100 years ago today..... October 14 2004, 7:45 PM

Bryan:
I don't really understand threads like this. It is almost as if that by proving Imperial has been compulsory before there is a discrediting of the side that argues for "Why should I be banned from using Imperial". Total rubbish.

metre:
What is so difficult to understand?
Imperialists maintain that people should be free to choose the measurements they want.
People, as Beranger shows, chose to use "Barrel Measure" to sell potatoes. They soon learned that they had no choice. Then, and now, only state sanctioned measurements are legal.

Metre, that is not relevant. Yuo aren't looking at this issue properly- you are blurring issues.

Someone says "I don't want to be a slave anymore". Then someone else says "Yeh, well you have always been a slave in this country so changing now isn't going to do any good!". I have just woken up so I apologise if this example is not very lucid. What I am saying is this: just because at times, to different extents, various W&M have been forced on people is totally irrelevant to the present context i.e. people not wanting wieghts and measures forced on us now. Just because w and m have to some extent always been forced, does not invalidate the argument that they shouldn't be forced now... for if things are not allowed to change, then, well, we would all be burning witches still, eh...?

Has everyone ignored the fact that the hub of this is being forced to use an alien set of W&M in place of ones we're used to and happy with?

If people weren't happy with imperial (and expressed as such) and yearned for metric then there would be no problem.

Imperial has evolved over the years - the new enforcements are not evolutionary, they are a sudden and unwanted change.

The changes that happened with imperial was simply a clean up excerise to avoid the confusion of same name units with different values.

Prediction: Something about "habit" will make sure we "lose" this argument. Somehow.

<<
The issue is not WHETHER one system should be enforced, it is WHICH system is to be enforced.
>>

Actually, it's not which system, it's which type of system. If the government forces everyone to use the system that most people are using, it could be justified on the grounds of fairness and streamlining. If the government chooses a system that most people don't want, then obviously some other forces are at work.

Bud wrote

<<
Actually, it's not which system, it's which type of system. If the government forces everyone to use the system that most people are using, it could be justified on the grounds of fairness and streamlining. If the government chooses a system that most people don't want, then obviously some other forces are at work.
>>

I couldn't agree more - since over 90% of the world's populaiton uses metric is makes good sense for the governments of those countries that have not yet converted to convert.

I dunno about you, Martin, but I believe in nationstates (not nationstates bending to the will, unneccessarily, of the "International community"). A nation like Britain can afford to ignore the rest of hte world on this issue.

Bryan Parry wrote

<<
A nation like Britain can afford to ignore the rest of the world on this issue.
>>

On the contrary - a nation like Britain, whose economy is built on trading, **cannot** afford to ignore the rest of the world on this issue.

Re: 100 years ago today..... October 15 2004, 9:23 AM


Metre, that is not relevant. Yuo aren't looking at this issue properly- you are blurring issues.
metre:
Someone says "I don't want to be a slave anymore". Then someone else says "Yeh, well you have always been a slave in this country so changing now isn't going to do any good!". I have just woken up so I apologise if this example is not very lucid. What I am saying is this: just because at times, to different extents, various W&M have been forced on people is totally irrelevant to the present context i.e. people not wanting wieghts and measures forced on us now. Just because w and m have to some extent always been forced, does not invalidate the argument that they shouldn't be forced now... for if things are not allowed to change, then, well, we would all be burning witches still, eh...?

metre:
You are right, neither of your examples makes sense. You can't compare a superior measurement system with slavery. Nor can you close your eyes to the disadvantages of a cumbersome and costly system. New weights and measures properly introduced and advantages explained convinces most people that it should happen. If on the other hand you make a mess of it like Britain and America, people are entitled to ask why are we forced to have 2 systems. There are always a few people like you and your friends, who for patriotic and emotional reasons, or habit, hang to old things.
People that have recently changed consider themselves much better off with the new system, to wit Australia, N.Zealand and as is often stated S. Africa.

Bud:
If the government chooses a system that most people don't want, then obviously some other forces are at work.

metre:
There is only one reason for the majority not wanting change, habit!

<<
I couldn't agree more - since over 90% of the world's populaiton uses metric is makes good sense for the governments of those countries that have not yet converted to convert.
>>

First point, lawmakers are elected by people in their own country, and are obligated to see to the interests of their own country, not other countries. Second, since the majority of times a measurement is used, it is in something of a domestic nature, it makes little sense to convert. Someday, perhaps, when the world is so integrated that measurements are used more often for international purposes than domestic purposes, things may be different.

An afterthought: Those countries that you mention have already converted to metric most areas that concern other countries, such as international trade, scientific research, etc.

"There is only one reason for the majority not wanting change, habit! "

[Smug grin] Read my last post above!!

BTW - you need to go to cut and paste lessons, eric, *please* !